Darren Byler (doctoral researcher, University of Washington) spent years in Xinjiang as a cultural anthropologist. Drawing on his background in photography, music and art criticism, and years of training in Uyghur, Chinese and ethnographic methods, he has researched the formation of new forms of art and politics in the city of Urumchi. His website, The Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia, is done in collaboration with Uyghur, Han and Kazakh writers.